2013-12-06 What do we dentists look at?

When I was younger before my dental education, when I thought of dentistry, I was only thinking of the actual “crown” of the tooth.  This diagram very accurately sums up what we dentists actually look at when it comes to each of your teeth!  The crown is what you see in the mouth, and it is surrounded by very visible pink (and sometimes very inflamed red) gums.  Underneath the gums, there is bone that supports the root or roots of the teeth, some teeth have 1 root, some have 2, some have 3, and a few can have 4 or even 5!  Within the deepest portion of the crown that goes into the root is called the pulp, which consists of nerve and blood vessels!  The outer portion of the tooth, or the Enamel, is the hardest substance in the human body, which is built to destroy and pulverise food so that your gut can ultimately absorb the nutrients to sustain life.  Enamel can dissolve over time in a process called tooth decay, which many of us has experienced, and when this process gets deep enough into the nerve, that’s where toothaches occur.  We dentists examine all these structures to assess their health status, which is why it is important to be seeing your dentist regularly if you want to keep your teeth for life.